New Directions In Drug Treatment For Schizophrenia

This manual attempts to provide simple, adequate and evidence-based information to health care professionals in primary health care especially in low- and middle-income countries to be able to provide pharmacological treatment to persons with mental disorders. The manual contains basic principles of prescribing followed by chapters on medicines used in psychotic disorders; depressive disorders; bipolar disorders; generalized anxiety and sleep disorders; obsessive compulsive disorders and panic attacks; and alcohol and opioid dependence. The annexes provide information on evidence retrieval, assessment and synthesis and the peer view process.

This is the first book to address the clinical and neurobiological interface between schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). There is growing evidence that obsessive-compulsive symptoms in schizophrenia are prevalent, persistent and characterized by a distinct pattern of familial inheritance, neurocognitive deficits and brain activation. This text provides guidelines for differential diagnosis of schizophrenic patients with obsessive-compulsive symptoms, and patients with primary OCD alongside poor insight, psychotic features or schizotypal personality. Written by a leading expert in the coexistence of obsessive-compulsive and schizophrenic phenomena, Schizo-Obsessive Disorder uses numerous case studies to present diagnostic guidelines and to describe a recommended treatment algorithm, demystifying this complex disorder and aiding its effective management. The book is essential reading for psychiatrists, neurologists and the wider range of multidisciplinary mental health practitioners.

In past years significant advances have been made in both the conceptualization and development of innovative program models providing integrated assessment and concommitant treatment for dually disordered patients. The purpose of this volume is to provide the reader with information about the most current ideas and clinical interventions available. Although many of the models presented here have been successful only in clinical trials, and efficacy is not yet confirmed by controlled research, the principles used in the development of these models hopefully will have value in assisting clinicians, managers, and planners who have an immediate need to provide services to this population. This is the 50th issue of the quarterly journal New Directions for Mental Health Services.

Estimates indicate that as many as 1 in 4 Americans will experience a mental health problem or will misuse alcohol or drugs in their lifetimes. These disorders are among the most highly stigmatized health conditions in the United States, and they remain barriers to full participation in society in areas as basic as education, housing, and employment. Improving the lives of people with mental health and substance abuse disorders has been a priority in the United States for more than 50 years. The Community Mental Health Act of 1963 is considered a major turning point in America's efforts to improve behavioral healthcare. It ushered in an era of optimism and hope and laid the groundwork for the consumer movement and new models of recovery. The consumer movement gave voice to people with mental and substance use disorders and brought their perspectives and experience into national discussions about mental health. However over the same 50-year period, positive change in American public attitudes and beliefs about mental and substance use disorders has lagged behind these advances. Stigma is a complex social phenomenon based on a relationship between an attribute and a stereotype that assigns undesirable labels, qualities, and behaviors to a person with that attribute. Labeled individuals are then socially devalued, which leads to inequality and discrimination. This report contributes to national efforts to understand and change attitudes, beliefs and behaviors that can lead to stigma and discrimination. Changing stigma in a lasting way will require coordinated efforts, which are based on the best possible evidence, supported at the national level with multiyear funding, and planned and implemented by an effective coalition of representative stakeholders. Ending Discrimination Against People with Mental and Substance Use Disorders: The Evidence for Stigma Change explores stigma and discrimination faced by individuals with mental or substance use disorders and recommends effective strategies for reducing stigma and encouraging people to seek treatment and other supportive services. It offers a set of conclusions and recommendations about successful stigma change strategies and the research needed to inform and evaluate these efforts in the United States.

Over the next 30 years, the number of chronically mentally ill people 55 years of age and older will double. With multiple disorders relating to mental illness and old age, this population will require unique services from a health care system that is ill prepared to deliver them. This is the first major multidisciplinary reference on this important topic. Coverage includes information on demographic and clinical characteristics of older schizophrenic persons, treatment approaches, research strategies, and economic and health policy issues.

First multi-year cumulation covers six years: 1965-70.

This book is presented as a 1989 update on the task set by Robert Burton in his "Anatomy ofMelancholy," published in 1621. Burton's treatise addressed ques tions regarding depression which are still highly relevant today: ." . . What is it, with all the kinds, causes, symptoms, prognostickes and several cures ofit. . . . " These remain the core issues in affective disorders notwithstanding the remarkable progress that has been made in addressing them. New Directions in Affective Disorders sets out to provide an overviewofwhat has been achieved with particular emphasison developing trends and novel initiatives in bothfundamental research and treatment. The overriding objective of the book is to integrate significant contributions from basic and clinical science into a comprehensive format which will be of value to both clinicians and researchers. Intensive interest in affective illness isan inevitableconsequenceofthe frequency with which these disorders occur. Depression is the most common psychiatric condition, affecting as many as 50%ofpeople in Western countries at some time in their lives. National Institute ofMental Health Statistics estimate that 15% of adults between 18 and 74 years ofage may be suffering from serious depressive disorders in any given year. Depression is a serious condition with a high mortality. A suicide rate ofapproximately 20,000 deaths per year as a result of this illness is almost certainly a conservative estimate."